Alabama Basketball: 2017-18 Crimson Tide season preview

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NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 10: Avery Johnson the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide gives instructions to his team in the game against the Ole Miss Rebels during the second round of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 10, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Can Coach Avery Johnson get Alabama back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012?

Alabama Crimson Tide fans have endured a five-year NCAA Tournament drought, but this could be the season where the Crimson Tide break through and return to the Big Dance. Coach Avery Johnson has assembled the most talent that Alabama has had since the 2012 team which featured JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell.

The Crimson Tide enhanced their roster by adding a highly ranked recruiting class led by five-star guard Collin Sexton. Sexton and fellow five-star John Petty join an Alabama team which returns six rotation players including their top three scorers. This mix of quality veterans with an impressive recruiting class should be enough to lead the Crimson Tide back to the NCAA Tournament and could even vault them into the top 25.

Even though Alabama missed the NCAA Tournament last season, they played their way onto the bubble with their suffocating defense. Last year, Alabama’s defense was ranked 10th overall according to KenPom. One factor that contributed to their exceptional defense was their positional size at the guard and wing positions. At 6’5, Dazon Ingram can use his size advantage to disrupt most point guards. Riley Norris and Braxton Key are listed at 6’7 and 6’8 respectively, which means they also have the size and length to be pesky wing defenders.

While this size can deter opposing perimeter players, Alabama’s defense was most effective at protecting the rim. Coach Johnson would often pair two of Bola Olaniyan, Donta Hall, and Jimmy Taylor together in a more traditional lineup. None of these big men can stretch the floor, and they added no real offensive value. These pairings stifled Alabama’s offense, but they transformed the defense.

Alabama was 23^rd in the country in effective field goal percentage defense and was 19^th in the country in 2-point percentage defense which shows how effective Alabama’s post players were at protecting the rim. Rebounding was also a major strength for Alabama and this can be directly attributed to their dual big man lineup. The Crimson Tide out rebounded opponents by an average of 5.6 per game which further strengthened their defense.

Unfortunately, Olaniyan and Taylor have exhausted their eligibility which means Alabama will not be able to replicate their rebounding and defensive prowess. The Crimson Tide should shift their focus to play a better offensive lineup now that they have the necessary talent. Adding this strong recruiting class injected some much-needed firepower to the struggling Crimson Tide offense (13^th in the SEC).

It will be interesting to see how Avery Johnson allocates minutes on this new look Alabama roster. He has the pieces to play smaller and quicker lineups, so, hopefully, he chooses to play faster than last season’s plodding pace (302^nd in tempo).

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